For how many prints/hours can the resin be kept in the vat?
I understand that the resin should not be kept in the vat while not printing, but when printing several parts sequentially, with the same resin (just refilling when necessary), is there a limit before you should empty the vat and clean the FEP film before a new print?
The reason why I'm asking is this: With a newly assembled SL1, I printed the three pre-sliced parts with the Prusa Orange Tough resin, ending with the Petřín tower. All went well. After the tower was finished, it took about three hours before I removed the tower from the build plate and started a new print job (number 4). I had then kept resin in the vat for all the prints (just refilling). Job number 4 failed; the print adhered to the FEP film. Could this be due to the long resin-FEP "contact time"? (In total or after the last print.) The build plate was cleaned with IPA between each print.
RE: For how many prints/hours can the resin be kept in the vat?
Hi Erik,
I've already seen people on YouTube who left the resin inside the vat for weeks, given that they put a lid on top of it to prevent UV-light and contamination from affecting the resin. They seemed to have no problems, although I personally never kept it for longer than a day inside the vat.
I've also had issues at the beginning of a new print before but that was due to bad bed-leveling and the fact that I forcefully had to remove the last print.
RE: For how many prints/hours can the resin be kept in the vat?
@conny
Thanks for the answer! Then I guess I can rule out "resin residence time" as the cause of my failure mentioned above. Maybe the build plate wasn't properly cleaned and dried.